Vytautas Magnus Military Museum

museum

The Vytautas Magnus Military Museum (lit. Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejus ) is one of the oldest museums in Kaunas and Lithuania , founded in 1919. It has been under the Ministry of Defense of Lithuania since 2006 .

The museum houses an exhibition on Lithuanian military history . The time priorities are the time before the partition of Poland as well as the time from the final phase of the First World War to the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 and the resistance by Lithuanian partisans (called forest brothers) that lasted until 1953. The cooperation of the Lithuanian military with the German armed forces is mentioned marginally. The Soviet conquest of Lithuania in the summer and autumn of 1944 is completely excluded.

The highlight of the exhibition is the wreckage of the plane with which the pilots Darius and Girėnas tried to fly 7,186 kilometers non-stop from New York to Kaunas in 1933. Such flights caused an enormous public sensation at the time.

The attempt to cross the Atlantic failed: After 6,411 km and 37 hours 11 minutes in the air, your plane crashed in what is now Poland for reasons that have never been clarified. They flew in bad weather and had a compass with them; nevertheless they managed to navigate very well.

In the garden of the museum is the Carillon Kaunas , where concerts are held every Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. all year round.

management

1921-1940: Brg. Gene. Vladas Nagevičius
1940–1941: Bronius Žekonis
1941–1944: Vladas Nagevičius
1944–1946: Petras Tarasenka
1946–1964: Jonas Apuokas-Maksimavičius
1964-1979: AV Kvedaras
1979-2006: Juozapas Jurevičius
2006–2011: Dr. Gintautas Surgailis
since 2011: Kęstutis Kuršelis

literature

Lietuvos kariuomenės nepriklausomybės kovų (1918-1920) eksponatai Vytauto Didžiojo karo muziejaus rinkiniuose (Sud. Dalė Naujalienė, Paulius Radzevičius, Andriejus Stoliarovas). - Kaunas, 2008. - 247 p .: iliustr. - ISBN 978-9986-738-99-2 .